“I saw a picture of it once in a magazine.”
“That’s about as close as I’ve been too. Anyway, that was when Karen first got sick. It was last September, about the time you were wrestling with the tornado. By January, he’d called me to come and help. Taking care of her full-time was too much of a strain. I arrived to find he’d settled down here, even built a handicap ramp for her chair, though she’s been bedridden for weeks now.”
Peggy stood and put the boxes of cereal back into a cabinet. She returned to the table, sat down, and stared at her hands. “I don’t blame you for judging him. What Spence did—grabbing you and bringing you here—that was totally out of line.”
She glanced up at Anna. “But he loves her, and love sometimes causes you to do things you’d never imagine. He even gave up smoking for her. Twenty-five-year habit, and he stopped cold turkey the day they delivered Karen’s oxygen machine. I thought he’d accepted the inevitable, but he’s still clinging to the hope there’s a way to rid her body of the cancer. Last week it was an herb he’d ordered from South America. This week… well, this week it’s you.”
“What kind of cancer does she have?”
Peggy waved away the question. “It’s spread. The stuff has eaten her up.”
“She’s dying?”
“Yes. She is. And after forty years of marriage, I’m pretty sure that Spencer is dying with her.”
CHAPTER 61
Five minutes later, Spencer walked down the short hall and stopped at the doorway. He nodded toward Anna, motioning for her to join him. Because she had no idea what else to do, and hoping that in Karen’s room there might be a way out of the motor home, she followed him down the hall.
“I told her who you are, but she’s on a pretty heavy dose of painkillers. Not sure she’ll remember.”
“What exactly—”
“I wanted to go in with you, but Karen wants to see you alone. She can be… stubborn, to say the least. A mite of a girl like you, I don’t think you can hurt her. I don’t believe you would hurt her.” Spencer shook his head. “Go in. Do what you can.”
He began to turn away but stopped with his back to her. “She’s everything to me.”
Without another word, he walked toward the kitchen.
Karen’s room was nothing like what Anna had expected, though it wasn’t as if she’d ever been in a motor home before. From the looks of things, this was a top-of-the-line model. She’d known a few men back in Indiana who had gone to work in the RV factory outside of Shipshewana. They had mostly done cabinetry work. The jobs paid well, but once a man married, he’d rather be working near his home and not in a factory all day.
Karen’s room was much tidier than the other rooms in the trailer. Small windows on both sides of the bed were positioned near the top of the ceiling. At less than six inches, Anna couldn’t have fit through them even if she managed to hoist herself up that high. Toward the back of the room was a skylight. One wall of the room was an oak cabinet—complete with shelves and built-in drawers. She stepped closer and ran her hand over the cabinet face. It looked like Amish work to her, so maybe this motor home had been built in Shipshe.
The large-sized mattress was tucked into the shelving unit so that it made a sort of headboard across the top of the bed.
An oxygen machine and IV drip were crammed next to Karen’s side of the bed, and beside that was a small, straight-back chair. There wasn’t room for anything bigger.
But Anna saw Karen’s touch in the bedroom. Apparently, she’d decorated it before falling ill. The spread on the bed was a paisley print with red, gold, and purple designs. Short curtains that coordinated with the spread adorned the windows. And on the shelf nearest her was a worn Bible and a hand-stitched embroidery piece, which was placed inside a white wooden frame. It read, “God is our refuge and strength.”
Anna picked up the frame and studied the verse, one from the Psalms that she recognized all too well. Mammi had reminded her of it often enough in the last year.
“You’re a believer?” The voice was a mere whisper, but the eyes that studied her seemed alert enough. Karen was probably Spencer’s age, certainly in her sixties. She’d lost her hair, and her shiny head reminded Anna of the new niece she had back in Indiana. Would she ever meet her? What would Spencer do when she couldn’t heal his wife?
“Ya. I was baptized a few years ago, back at my church in Indiana.”
Karen nodded. “That’s good, child.”
Anna couldn’t tell much about the woman. The bedspread was pulled up nearly to her chin. However her eyes were the light blue of an early morning sky. Her face sported plenty of wrinkles, even laugh lines around her mouth and eyes. Anna suspected she would have liked this woman if she had met her under other circumstances. The clatter of the oxygen machine and the occasional beep of the IV unit faded into the background as Anna sank onto the chair.
“It’s true, then?”
Anna didn’t have to ask what she was referring to. Evidently Spencer had told Karen why he’d brought her to their home. “Ya.”
“That’s wonderful. I’m glad for you, Anna—that you’ll be able to live a normal life. A young girl like you—” She paused to cough up phlegm caught in her throat.
Anna jumped up to pull a tissue from the box on the shelf. She handed it to her and asked if she would like a sip from the pitcher of water.
Karen ignored her question. “Spencer thinks you can save me.”
“I know he does, and I would if I knew how. I can see how much he loves you, and his sister does too. It’s… it’s very obvious that you all mean the world to one another.”
“Sometimes that much love can smother a person.”
Anna understood that. She’d felt that way when she was confined to her wheelchair, when everyone wanted to help so badly. But sometimes what she needed most was to be alone. Was that what Karen wanted?
She seemed to drift into a light sleep.
Anna was debating whether to stay or walk back down the hall when Karen said, “Tell me about it. Tell me what it was like.”
So she did. She told her about the accident—how frightened and angry she had been. She explained how her family had cared for her, prayed for her, never left her side.
“Like Spencer.”
Anna wasn’t sure whether Spencer and her family were very much alike. One thing was certain, though. They both loved and cared for their family. In Spencer’s case, he’d become lost in that love, or perhaps in the grief that accompanied it.
Karen was staring at Anna, the look in her eyes calm but curious.
“And you never expected to walk again?”
“Nein. I met people in the hospital and in rehab—some who had been injured for many years. They would come back to learn to operate a new prosthetic or maybe because they had experienced a setback. Their condition never improved. Why should mine? But… there were the dreams.”
“Dreams?”
“Yes. Some I didn’t understand, but most of them included family members.” She hesitated and finally added, “Though they frightened me at first, more recently they comforted the ache in my heart.”
“I’ve had similar dreams,” Karen said softly.
Anna didn’t know how to respond to that, so she continued telling about her dreams, how they had changed when she was so sick, and she described waking and finding herself able to walk.
“God has blessed you.” Karen raised a wrinkled, weak hand and grasped Anna’s. “He’s blessed me too. Spence doesn’t see that, but I’ve had a good life. We know there’s more than this. Don’t we, dear?”
Anna nodded, the lump in her throat preventing her from speaking.
“And now it’s my time.”
Tears slipped down Anna’s cheeks. She wasn’t sure why she was crying for Karen—a person she had just met, but she did understand there was no danger from the elderly woman. Perhaps it was the exhaustion in her eyes. Anna could relate all too well to that. Or maybe… maybe it was t
he peace she saw behind the fatigue. She thought of the embroidered verse and the Bible. Karen’s faith had somehow remained strong. It was Spencer who was struggling. Spencer who had lost his anchor and was awash in a sea of pain.
“My mammi, she likes the Psalms. Could I read some aloud to you?”
“That would be good.”
Anna started with the first chapter and made it to the end of the fourth. “ ‘In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.’”
She stopped reading when Spencer walked into the room.
If anything, he looked worse than he had before. Perhaps he’d been arguing with Peggy. Anna hadn’t heard anything from their end of the motor home, but she had been completely focused on Karen.
Spencer gazed at his wife, and in that moment Anna saw on his face the depth of his love for Karen. It caused her heart to ache. Her mind was filled with images of her own mother and father, Mammi and Daddi, even Erin and Samuel. Each couple experienced love in their own way, but they were all completely devoted to one another. She thought of Jacob, and she realized how much she wanted to experience that kind of love. The kind that sees you through a lifetime, even if in the end it breaks your heart.
Spencer stared at the sleeping form of his wife for another moment, and then he motioned Anna out of the room.
CHAPTER 62
Chloe hit the “Send” key on her tablet.
The report she’d filed had been brief, barely more than a hundred words, but it pretty much summed up the current situation.
The Cody’s Creek Police Department is seeking information regarding the possible abduction of Anna Schwartz. Miss Schwartz has been the subject of much media attention since her healing from a complete spinal break.
Police have reported that Miss Schwartz was last seen at a neighbor’s farm. Though she left at 6:20 last evening to walk the quarter mile home, she never arrived at her uncle’s house.
A late model Dodge truck with Texas plates was seen in the area. Police would like to question the driver, an older white male. If you have any information regarding Anna or the Dodge truck, contact the Tips hotline immediately.
It wasn’t her best writing—not that she cared. At the moment all Chloe cared about was finding her friend. It was a few minutes past midnight, but Chloe felt as if she’d devoured an entire pot of coffee and a dozen donuts. Her blood was practically thrumming through her veins, or perhaps that was hope energizing her. She walked out onto the front porch and stared up at the dark sky. Though gas lanterns still shone from the living room, at least the officers had cut the floodlights around the house. There were no clues there and no reason to continue searching. Anna was in the Dodge truck, or she had been. They’d had at least three separate confirmations of an Amish girl leaving with an older Englisch man.
She’d texted her mom the latest news, and Teri had responded that she’d sent a request through the prayer chain for Anna’s safe return. She reminded her daughter to keep the faith and not lose hope. Those two phrases would have sounded cliché to Chloe a year ago, but now she clung to them like a life raft in a turbulent sea.
After reading her mom’s text, she’d emailed Eric. He’d promised to put her post directly on the website within the hour. He actually congratulated her on getting the scoop. Yup. Her boss was still counting website hits, and he didn’t seem worried at all that a woman was missing.
She wasn’t the only one who would report the story. At that very moment Lacretia Gates was briefing the press people assembled out on the lane. The Cody’s Creek Police Department had been hesitant to issue an alert because, technically, Anna needed to be missing forty-eight hours before they could open an investigation. Lacretia offered to call the governor and confirm that this was a special case. Officer Starnes had quickly backpedaled and agreed to make an exception.
Suddenly the screen door behind her slammed shut. Jacob didn’t pause to look at or speak to her as he hurried down the steps.
“Where are you going?”
He didn’t answer, so she jumped up and ran to catch up with him.
“Jacob, where are you going?”
She reached for his arm, but he brushed her off.
“I have a car, Jacob.”
That stopped him. He turned, studied her a moment, and then said, “Good. Let’s go.”
“Not until you tell me where we’re going.”
“To Texas. I’m going to get Anna.”
“You’re what… going to speed down there and find her? Do you realize how big Texas is? Where will you look?”
“I don’t know. I do know that I have to find her!”
“Jacob, listen to me.”
He turned and continued down the lane.
“You need to be here.”
Again, he stopped, but this time he didn’t turn toward her.
“You need to be here when they call. Let the police do their job. They will find her, and when they do, you need to be here to talk to her, not out traveling the interstate.”
At that moment Anna’s mother stepped up beside them. Chloe hadn’t even heard the clatter of the front screen door. She’d been too focused on Jacob, on trying to think of a way to stop him.
Martha paused a moment beside Chloe, squeezed her hand, and then she moved on toward Jacob.
“So much has happened since I arrived. I haven’t had a chance to thank you properly.”
When he looked at her in surprise, she continued. “Anna wrote me weekly, and we talked sometimes on the phone when she could get to the phone shack. She told me, Jacob. She told me all that you have done, and what good friends you two have become.”
“That’s what she called us? Friends?”
To Chloe, it looked as if his face had become a caricature for misery.
Martha linked her arm through his and guided him back to the front porch. “She may have hinted at something more, though I wouldn’t want to share anything from her letters that she hasn’t shared with you already.”
Jacob shook his head, “We haven’t had time to talk about it. I didn’t take the time when I had the chance.”
As Chloe was wondering whether she should give Martha and Jacob a few moments alone, Martha sat on the step and patted the spot to her right and left. Jacob and Chloe sat with her.
“You think she didn’t know? That you care for her?”
“If you ask me, she knew,” Chloe said. “She would break into a smile at anything you said, her face would blush, and she’d forget whatever she was doing at the moment.” When Jacob and Martha looked at her, she added, “I’m a reporter. They pay me to notice things.”
Jacob’s arms were propped on his knees, and he dropped his head into his hands. “I don’t know. I hope she did, but—”
“My Anna. She’s a bright girl.” Martha paused, and then she added, “I wouldn’t be breaking her confidence to say that she cares for you, Jacob.”
Chloe watched the expression on Jacob’s face as misery gave way to hope. It was like watching the sun come up over the Oklahoma fields.
He wiped at his eyes. “I should go and look for her—”
“No, I think Chloe’s right. Let the officers do their job. Not only does Anna need you here, but Samuel will need help with the livestock.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Well, I suspect you’ve been a bit distracted.” Martha stood and straightened her apron. “Now, I think we should all go inside and try to get some sleep. Erin made up the couch for you, Jacob. And Chloe, you can sleep in Anna’s bed.”
“I couldn’t sleep,” he said.
“Better try. Tomorrow’s bound to be busier than today. Mammi keeps reminding me that Gotte has a plan for Anna, for each of us. This time, I think I’m going to trust her. I don’t know why, but it seems the Lord has His hand on my girl.”
Jacob stood, and he and Martha walked back toward the front door. Chloe assured them she would follow soon. She wanted a few moments to let the quiet
and peace of the evening slip into her soul. She wanted to think about that look on Jacob’s face, and her own ideas about love and relationships. But more than anything, she wanted a few moments to pray.
CHAPTER 63
Anna followed Spencer back into the kitchen.
She hadn’t noticed the small television on the counter, but now it was turned to the news, though the volume was muted. It was plain enough to tell what the story was about. She recognized Lacretia and the scene outside her uncle’s farm. Before she could fully comprehend what was being reported, Peggy and Spencer began shouting at each other.
“You have to take her back, Spence. Now!”
“I do not!”
“Yes, you do. What you’ve done is illegal, and the only hope you have is to return her.”
“They’ll never find us, and besides—”
“Never find you? Are you watching the news? They know you’re in Texas—”
“It’s a big state, Peggy.”
“They know that you’re driving a Dodge truck—”
“Plenty of those around.”
“And they know you’re an older white male.” She held up her fingers to put imaginary quotation marks around the last three words.
A small groan escaped Anna’s lips as she stared at the television. She’d caught sight of her uncle, and he didn’t look good. This was too much stress for him. She had once again turned his world upside down.
Peggy and Spencer had stopped shouting at one another and were now watching her closely.
“I think I need to sit down.” Anna walked to the table and plopped down in one of the seats. Until she’d seen her uncle’s farm on the television, this entire episode had seemed like a dream. Seeing Lacretia standing in front of the large group of spectators reminded her that this was very real—and also that she had more problems than Spencer, Peggy, and Karen. Seeing her uncle standing beside Lacretia reminded her of how worried her family must be.
“I can’t walk in there and drop her off.” Spencer stabbed a finger in the direction of the television. “Do you think I’m daft?”
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